Journal Four

In chapter fourteen of A Long Way Gone written by Ishmael Beah, Beah, was on drugs, the white pills, sniffing brown brown, and marijuana. The drugs made him feel numb and gave him energy. This soldier army group he was part of has changed him and has brain washed him. He depends on drugs and is not afraid to kill, but worst of all, he sees a gun as safety, and it provides him comfort. A typical child would never see a gun like but to Beah that is all he has left. A critical scene that occurred in this chapter was when the lieutenant lined up five rebels and commanded the boys to slit their throats (Beah 124). Beah has so much hatred towards the rebels that without thinking he, “grabbed the man’s head and slit his throat in one fluid motion” (Beah 125). Beah dramatized this scene because it reveals his hatred towards the rebels and how skilled he is at killing. The rebels has taken his family away from him and everything else. It shows to the reader that he has changed, ever since the first time he killed someone and held a gun in his hand. Beah is not the boy that was once scared, sad, and on the run. I believe Beah has changed, and the drugs he was on made him forget his feelings and morals. I feel shocked that he went through with all the killing, weapons, and drugs. He has stopped to have internal thoughts or debates on his actions and his morals. I never imagined that Beah would end up like this and would kill others without remorse.

No, I do not think Beah can be truly rehabilitated because he has been through way too much. The war started when he was twelve, and now he is fifteen, and he is still in the war. These three years began with him being all alone and finding ways to survive and hoping to find his family. After that, he was part of a soldier army that forced him to use a gun, do drugs, and killing rebels and other civilians. This journey has traumatized him, and he will never be able to recover from it entirely. Since he is just a child, and his mind is fragile and not fully developed yet, and he was put into situations like this that will change his life forever. He has lost his family and friends, and he would carry that with him and the anger he feels towards the rebels since the rebels have tortured family, friends, children, and other villages. He will get better at the UNICEF, but he will never be able to fully recover from all the pain and trauma he has been put through.